The sermon titled 'Without Excuse' by Scott Brown focuses on the self-righteousness of both believers and unbelievers. Brown explains the six reasons why God condemns the self-righteous, emphasizing the inescapable and deserved judgment of God. He highlights God's patience and long-suffering, as well as the impartiality of His judgment. The sermon calls for self-examination and repentance of self-righteousness, while emphasizing the need for the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

It's a typographical error in your outline, it's Romans 2, so thank you, Nathan. Open your Bibles to Romans chapter 2 and find verse 1. Romans 2, verse 1, I'll be reading to verse 11. This is the inerrant, all sufficient, sweeter than honey word of God. Romans 2 one, Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself.

For you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, oh man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each one according to his deeds.

Eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good, seek for glory, honor and immortality. But to those who are self-seeking and Do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation, wrath, tribulation, and anguish on every soul who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek. But glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord I pray you'd open up these words to our hearts that you would use them to shape our conscience that you would help us to understand the greatest treasure in the world our Lord Jesus Christ and that you would also Lord help us to see anything that falls short of your glory, because Lord, we so adore and stand in awe at the beauty of your kingdom and of your name.

So I pray, Lord, that you would give this congregation all of the happinesses of heaven in obedience to these words, Amen. Please be seated. So as you can see, we have moved from Romans chapter one to chapter two, and we remember that in Romans one, the apostle Paul is systematically destroying the reputation of the worldly of this world. He reduces them to stubble. But he doesn't stop there.

But He moves on to the self-righteous. He's confronting the overconfident regarding sin in their lives. And of course, this is so characteristic of the word of God that always calls us to repentance. You know the very first command that Jesus Christ issued in Matthew chapter four was repent. Because the essence of the Christian life is the discovery of sin, and then the freedom from sin, the joy of forgiveness, and just the recognition of the patience of God with us.

But this passage is about self-righteousness. You know, you who have children, have you ever seen self-righteousness in your children? Have you ever had to deal with children who are always tattling on one another? Have you ever had to deal with a child who finds it very easy to condemn, but very hard to bless, who is right in his own eyes. Have you ever had a child who's acting morally superior?

Have you ever had a child that found it hard to confess, but very easy to tattle on those who probably should confess as well. And if you've ever had children, you know that you've seen all these things. And wouldn't it be nice if children would just confess their own sin rather than to condemn their own brothers and sisters. But it's actually worse than that because have you ever noticed self-righteousness in yourself? One of the results of the fall is that we minimize our own flaws.

We are quick to blame. Jesus talked about looking at the speck in our brother's eye, but we neglect the log that's in our own eye in Matthew chapter seven. He says, He says, with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. That's kind of terrifying, actually, because our fallen hearts are naturally judgmental. We demand justice for others, but we'd rather have justice passed over us.

That's just the way that we are in our sinful flesh. We're just like Adam with his wife, who blamed her for everything, and has the gall to say to God, it was the woman that you gave me. The self-righteous techniques of the morally superior are like this. We deny reality about ourselves. We turn a blind eye to ourselves and we turn a microscope on everybody else.

We rationalize our own behavior, but we hold others accountable. We minimize our own faults, and we maximize other people's faults. We flatter ourselves and we slander others. This is what the Apostle Paul's talking about. When he says you're without excuse.

That we fall into self-pity, focusing on the way that we've been neglected and demand treatment that we don't give others. So the Apostle Paul here is intending to take away all excuses systematically. He started doing this in chapter one. But what I think is happening here in this passage, and this argument rolls on all the way into chapter three, verse 20 and 21. What the Apostle Paul wants to do is he wants to take away all of our excuses for our sin.

But he wants to replace the excuses with the treasure of Jesus Christ. And that's what we need the most. In 1 John 1, 9, We're told that if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And what is confession? Well, confession is saying the same thing that God says.

Instead of flattering ourselves, we say what God says about really anything. Confession is like that. When we confess our sins, we're just agreeing with God about what's true. It's telling the truth. Ecclesiastes 7 really nails the heart of the problem that the apostle is addressing here.

For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. There's not a single person, even the holiest Christian, is still a man who sins. There is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin. That's just the reality that we have to deal with with one another, and that's what's so glorious about a church. Sinners who recognize that they are gathered together, and because they've received so much mercy, they have mercy for one another.

So in chapter one, the apostles addressing the idolatry, the rank, explicit, so highly visible idolatry of the world. And he's exposing it by using, by these two terrible dark exchanges. The first is the exchanging of the glory of God for images, for your image, for what you want to be identified with. And then the second, the exchanging the glory of God and sexuality. So Paul's been mentioning these sins that condemn mankind, and this exposes mankind to the wrath of God, and it's only the forgiveness of Jesus Christ that can cause one to escape.

And as the Apostle Paul is taking off every excuse systematically, he ends the argument in chapter 323, which actually is the theological center of the Bible. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All have sinned. The moral, those who feel morally superior, and those who are just explicitly rank in their rebellion. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

So the apostles building this case for the necessity of the new birth, for the forgiveness of sins, for repentance, and it all ends in this statement, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But, but God forgives sinners. So, he's condemning everyone for their sin, and he, in chapter one, verse 20, he's already said that they are without excuse. And he's talking about those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. You might say, I didn't know.

God will say, no, you did know. You suppress the truth in unrighteousness. And so you are without excuse. And so in these verses, I have picked out, you have an outline in front of you, hopefully. There are at least six reasons that God condemns the self-righteous.

You know, most of you are believers. You're clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. But God is not done with your self-righteousness. He's not done with my self-righteousness. I've discovered many, many times over the years, still discovering my own self-righteousness.

And so you have, I think what's in view here is the self-righteousness of the believer that's, would be maybe called remaining sin, but the self-righteousness of the morally superior, people who think well of themselves. I think you could connect it with the people that we run into all the time who say, I'm good enough, God wouldn't send a person who's as good as I am to hell. Everybody is so good. That's self-righteousness. So I think he's dealing with both things at one time.

And so in verse one he says, therefore you are inexcusable, oh man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another, you condemn yourself for you who judge practice the same things. Now the first word in our text of course is the word therefore. Therefore you are inexcusable, which means that he's continuing with the implications of a thought that he began earlier. So in some ways, before we move forward, we have to remind ourselves of what he said already. So go ahead and look at chapter one, verse 16.

We probably, in a text like this with the word therefore in chapter two, we probably shouldn't proceed until we understand again what he's talking about. The chapter division is not a division of his argument at all. So verse 16, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes. For the Jew first and also for the Greek, in other words, for the religious person and also for the unreligious person. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, the just shall live by faith.

What the apostle is arguing is that he's not ashamed of the gospel because sinners need to be saved. And then he says in verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness because what may be known of God is manifest in them for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. So he's talking about this exchange where man wants to receive glory from the things of this world, but then he talks about a progression that always takes place in a culture that's falling.

And it begins with a sexual revolution, verse 24, therefore God gave them up to uncleanness in the lusts of their hearts to dishonor their bodies among themselves. And then there's, I'm just gonna call it an epistemological revolution. In other words, what's the source of truth? The turning away from the truth. Who exchanged the truth of God for the lie.

And worshiped and served the creature rather than the creator who is blessed forever. And so you have this sexual revolution, you have this revolution of ideas, then you have a homosexual revolution. For this reason, God gave them up to vile passions, for even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And then When your homosexual revolution continues on, you have a devolution of thinking, and you have a loss of natural logic and truth.

And so in verse 28, you have this twisted thinking, this revolution of the mind. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind. We talked about that last week. To do those things which are not fitting, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness, They are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful, who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of those who practice them. And so that ends chapter one.

I think the Apostle Paul is anticipating what's in people's minds. And people are saying, look at how despicable these people are. Lord, you need to nail them. But then Paul says, not so fast. Not so fast.

All, all are inexcusable. All mankind. And then of course, as I read earlier in 3.23, all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. So in these verses, after condemning the immoral people of the world, Paul turns to the moral people. He turns to the religious people, the good people, the well ordered people, the people who are serious about their religion, and the person who says, I'm not a homosexual, I'm not a liar.

I've never committed adultery. I've stayed with my spouse and will continue to stay with my spouse. I do see God in nature. And this is, I think, the person, like all persons, like all of us, it's hard to admit that sin runs deep and how much we need the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So I think in these verses in chapter two, the apostle is exposing the subtlety of sin.

And I'm here to help us this morning to just consider the subtleties of the sins in our hearts. Because we already know this from the words of Jesus, that the law goes deeper than just the physical act. You know, murder, Jesus connects murder with hating your brother. He connects adultery with looking at a woman with lust. So sin runs deeper than the actual act.

You don't have to commit the act to be guilty of the sin. And this is why it's so hard for us to admit wrongdoing in our self-righteousness. Now, some commentators believe that Paul is just addressing the Jews, and then others would say in the first 16 verses he's addressing the moral unbeliever or the religious person. And then in 17 forward he's addressing Jews. That may be, my sense of this is that he's dealing with the moral religious person, including the Jews, including even Gentiles who got it all together.

And they know it, and they want everybody else to know it. So I think the rebuke is at an element of hypocrisy in the unbeliever, and also in the need for sanctification. Did I say the hypocrisy of the unbeliever? The hypocrisy of the unbeliever, and the need for sanctification in the believer. That's what I think the Apostle Paul's driving at here.

And I think it's an important matter because What is the thing that you hear about most when people object to Christianity if they've been to church? It's obvious, they say, well, there's so many hypocrites in the church. You know, that guy acts so pious at church, but you should see him outside. So he's talking about that kind of a person. And I think he's also talking about how insensitive we become to the grace of God.

I heard somebody say one time, you can sing amazing grace, but not feel that it's so amazing. But it is amazing because it goes so deep, it goes deeper than your understanding of your own sin. Because we don't even understand how sinful we are, But grace is greater than our sin. So I think, you know, this reminds me of what Jesus said in Luke 532, I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but to sinners. So self-righteousness is inexcusable.

Obviously, the self-righteousness of the unrepentant moral unbeliever, but also, it's also inexcusable in the believer. And God would just root out our self-righteousness. You know, as the years go on, and it can take all kinds of bumps and blows a lot of times to deal with your self-righteousness. You know, Ephraim in Hosea 12 said it like this, I'm not like other men. What he meant is that I'm better than other men.

You know, the rich young ruler told Jesus, I've kept all the commands for my youth, which wasn't even true. He kept the letter of the law. But his sin ran deeper than his outward behavior. You know, it's interesting in that passage, I believe it's in Luke's story telling of that story. He says that Jesus looked on that rich young ruler who was so proud.

He looked at him and he loved him. Isn't that amazing? It's like that proud Pharisee who says, thank God I'm not like other men. I fast twice a week and I give alms. That's Luke 18, 12.

Charles Spurgeon said it like this, the self-righteous man does not and cannot trust Christ, and therefore he cannot see the face of God. None but the naked man will ever go to Christ for clothing. None but the hungry man will ever take Christ to be his food. None but thirsty souls will ever come to this well of Bethlehem to drink. The thirsty are welcome, but those who think they are good are welcome neither to Sinai nor to Calvary.

They have no hope of heaven, no peace in this world, nor in that which is to come. But thinking, you know, in the church, if we're thinking that we're so good, we're thinking so wrong about ourselves. And the problem is that we're so selective about sin, but the truth is we can't really even live up with our own standards. There really isn't anybody that lives a perfectly consistent life. There isn't anybody.

It's good to live a consistent life, but it would be really hard to find someone who's perfectly consistent because of this problem of sin. In Luke 18, Jesus spoke of people who were actually trusting in their own righteousness. Well, see, what the apostle wants to do with the Roman church is to deliver them from trusting in their own righteousness. That's what he's doing. But he spoke this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, Luke 18, verse nine.

It's interesting that they were righteous and they despised others. Self-righteous people are often angry people. Self-righteous people are dissatisfied with everybody else. Self-righteous people are often disappointed with how they're being treated. And that's what Jesus is saying.

They trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. And then he tells this story, two men went up to the temple to pray, one Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, reminds me of their list at the end of Romans chapter one. Or even as this tax collector, He was so superior. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all I possess.

And the tax collector, standing far off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. That's the heart of a Christian. That's what the Apostle Paul is trying to foment in the hearts of the Romans, that they would be a people who would say, God, be merciful to me.

Don't change my friend, change me. And then Jesus says, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified "'rather than the other. "'For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, "'and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'" You know, we have to recognize the seriousness of our condition in the state of original sin and the sins that we commit. You have two things, right? You have original sin, you have a sin nature, and you also commit sins.

Those are two separate things. But James tells us that if we break one point of the law, we've broken them all. I'll read it for you, James 2-11. For whoever shall Keep the whole law, yet stumble in one point is guilty of all. Because all of them are connected.

They're actually connected to the first commandment. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart. All the other law breaking that we do, it's connected to the first commandment. We sin because we've lost a sense of the awe of God and we want to do our own thing. So this is what the apostle is doing.

He's taking away every excuse, but he wants there to be repentance, critics making excuses to admit so that he could replace the excuse giving mind with the mind of Christ. To give us something so much better than self flattery and self congratulation. To give us Jesus Christ. So okay, there are, I say there are at least six reasons God condemns the self-righteous, and I wanna walk through them that are in this text. And of course the first reason is that God condemns the self-righteous.

We've already talked about that. God condemns the self-righteous. The second reason God condemns the self-righteous is that it's deserved. It's actually deserved, verse two. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.

There's a standard of truth by which everything is measured. Man is not his own standard. Man is not the measure of all things. God is the measure of all things. And so, not your truth, not my truth, not your family's truth, but not your culture's truth, but the truth of God.

You know, there's so many ways that this is expressed. Years ago, Jerry Bridges wrote a book called Respectable Sins, it's actually a really good book. He says, we often live in unconscious denial of our acceptable sins. Even these sins are an assault on the majesty and the sovereign rule of God. It is indeed treason.

And he lists the acceptable sins, general ungodliness, anxieties and frustrations. Did you know that There are so many commands not to be anxious. It's actually sinful to be anxious, to have sinful anxiety. These are acceptable sins that are actually explicitly listed as sins in the Bible. Discontentment, unthankfulness, pridefulness, self-righteousness, inconsiderableness, lack of self-control in eating, drinking, temperament, finances, entertainment and shopping, impatience and irritability, anger, grudges, judgmentalism, a critical spirit, envy, jealousy, competitiveness, the sins of the tongue like gossip, slander, lying, harsh words, sarcasm, insults and ridicule, worldliness in various forms of watching and reading of the sinfulness of others.

And what Bridges is saying is that sin runs just very, very deep. So the second reason that God condemns self-righteousness is that it is deserved, because it's based on a standard of truth. And then the third reason God condemns the self-righteous is that the judgment is inescapable. He says, and do you think this, oh man, you who judge those practicing such things and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? We've already learned so far that God's wrath, God's judgment is already being exercised in the world through the pain and the suffering in the world but then there is the final judgment.

So there's two ways that God is judging the world. And Romans 1 talks so explicitly about the first way. Now he's talking about the second way. I believe this is the ultimate judgment of God. The judgment is inevitable.

And then the fourth reason God condemns the self-righteous. And this is a kind of an odd reason, but In his condemnation, he's actually demonstrating his long suffering towards him. Look at verse four. Or do you despise the riches of his goodness, forbearance, and long suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. What he's saying is that the final judgment of God is being delayed and God is being patient.

The reason that you woke up today and still have a life is that God is patient. And I would just say God is patient with the Christian who's being sanctified of his self-righteousness. And God is patient with the wicked who hate Him, who rage against Him. God causes the Son to come out on the evil and the good and gives them a new lease on life every single day. This is the patience of God.

Some of you are saved young, some of you are saved old. And it was God's patience for both. You know, God could have wiped you out in the days of your rank rebellion, but he did not do that. He had patience. He gave you time.

It's such an amazing thing. Notice how he talks about this. He calls, or do you despise the riches of his goodness? The riches of his goodness. The riches of his forbearance.

The riches of his long suffering. Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance. You know, this actually has to, I think this can be connected with the argument that people have against Christianity that there's so many hypocrites. God is patient with them. There they are.

Maybe they're in the church. And God is exercising his long suffering toward them. God's goodness and forbearance and long suffering is rich. This word long suffering is a really neat word in the Greek language. It's the Greek word macrothymia, macro.

Large, long, long suffering, big, big long suffering. You know, this is the goodness of God. But the problem is people misunderstand God's kindness and they think that they can sin freely because God hasn't taken them down yet. There will be a day when all unbelievers will be taken down when all who've ever been born are summoned before the judgment of God on the last day. But that day is coming.

But there's an interesting thing that Solomon teaches in Ecclesiastes 8, 11. He says, Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil. In other words, because the hammer doesn't come down, they think they can just keep on going. They think that God doesn't care. They think that God isn't gonna do anything about it.

They can sin and God didn't do anything about it, so they can do it again, and God didn't do anything about it again, And they think, well, who cares? But here what we see is that God's patience, that He doesn't strike immediately is meant to bring us to repentance. God is not willing that any should perish. But look at this beautiful phrase. Not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance.

God is leading people to repentance. They haven't repented yet. But he's leading, he's giving them time. But there will be a day when the time is up. You know, one of the dear brothers in our church just this week watched a man die.

He was driving along the road and there was a terrible accident. And the man was thrown out of his vehicle and was just consumed in flames. And one of our church members was there and tried to rescue him, he couldn't. And he burned to death right in front of his eyes. That man did not know, but his days were numbered, and all of our days were numbered.

But God is patient, and God gives much time. But his goodness leads you to repentance. It's God's goodness that holds back the hammer to give you time to repent. There's still time to repent. And he says that this judgment is coming, but like the psalmist says in Psalm 103, The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.

He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him. People of God live in this, they're enveloped in mercy, in the grace of God. God's people walk around in a bubble of mercy.

And so God gives time to repent. But the person who doesn't feel that he's a sinner cannot be saved. The person who does not feel he's a sinner cannot be saved. That's self-righteousness. I'm not that bad.

When people say they're not that bad, they are condemned to everlasting darkness because it's only repentant sinners who are saved, which is why Jesus' first command was repent at the beginning of his public ministry. But the person who doesn't feel that he's a sinner doesn't understand himself and he doesn't understand the righteousness of Jesus Christ and his need for an alien righteousness, a righteousness not his own. Jesus Christ obeyed every law with perfection. No man has ever obeyed every law with perfection. And Jesus Christ was our substitute as an obedient law keeper.

He is the one who is righteous. Jesus Christ the righteous is what he's called. Now, back to repentance, it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance. We can't even have pride in our own repentance because God led us to repentance. God brings things into your life to lead you to repentance.

You probably have your own story of what led to your repentance, but God leads people to repentance. The fifth reason God condemns the self-righteous is because of hardness of heart. Hardness of heart, it's for hardness of heart in verse five. But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart, you are treasuring up wrath, up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God who will render to each one according to his deeds. So This is a picture of treasuring up wrath.

Some of you have bank accounts where you have automatic transfers and you automatically transfer funds into maybe a savings account, and 10 years later you look at it and you say, oh my, look at how much went in there. But it was just a little bit every week or every month. That's the idea of treasuring up. Jonathan Edwards talked about it in terms of a dam, a dam where water is piling up and finally the dam fails. He talks about it as rotten boards in a house and you're going to fall through, you're treasuring up wrath, you're building up wrath every day.

And the apostle is arguing, don't treasure up any more wrath, repent, repent of your self-righteousness. And who will render to each one according to his deeds. At the there at the end of verse five. And that's, he's saying, he's really repeating in different words what Jesus said. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, performed many wonders in your name, And Jesus then says, I never knew you. Depart from me. Why? You who practice lawlessness. You who have rejected the law of God and you walked your own way.

And these are these deeds, these lawless deeds that the Apostle Paul is talking about when he says each one according to his deeds. So we're always storing up something for eternity. John Bunyan talked about this in terms of the weight on his back. He had this big pack on his back, weight of sin. He was treasuring up wrath, and he realized it, and then he repented of his sins, and the weight fell off of him and rolled down the hill, and he was free.

He didn't have the weight of sin anymore. And then the sixth reason God condemns the self-righteous is because he's impartial, He's impartial. This is verses six through 11. All these verses really speak of the impartial judgment of God. God is no respecter of persons, but it's the certainty of God's judgment.

According to deeds, verse six, who will render to each according to his deeds eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality, but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey in righteousness, indignation, tribulation, and anguish on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also the Greek, but also glory and honor and peace to everyone who works what is good to the Jew first and also the Greek, for there is no partiality with God. So the Apostle Paul is wanting to take away every excuse because of these realities of the judgment of God because it's inexcusable, because it's deserved, because it's inescapable, because it demonstrates God's long suffering, because it's for hardness of heart, and because God is impartial. So this passage is standing in our way as a local church to help every believer to search their hearts for self-righteousness, for the ways that we exalt ourselves above our brethren, for the ways that we condemn one another, and for the unbeliever to recognize the terrible condition they are in. The wrath of God falls upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth about themselves in unrighteousness.

So, You know, there's this word here in verse nine though that really, it took me by storm, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Tribulation and anguish on every soul, and But then he turns it around on the souls of the unbeliever, he turns it to the believer. But glory and honor and peace to everyone who works what is good on every soul. And I just started looking through the Bible on this word, the soul. And the Bible says so much about the soul.

First of all, The soul lives forever. It's the conscious part of you that will live forever. Your body will die, your soul will live forever, and you'll be reunited with your body at the resurrection. And your body and your soul will survive forever. That's what the Bible teaches.

David says my soul thirsts for you. He says my soul shall be satisfied in Psalm 63. My soul follows hard after you. In 1 Peter 1, 9, the soul is saved. There's just so many beautiful things.

In Psalm 19, the Word of God converts the soul. In Psalm 121, there's one of my favorite lines in the Bible. He will keep your soul. He will keep your soul. So for all the souls, first of all, examine yourselves, ourselves for self-righteousness.

Self-righteousness in a church is noxious to God. And then for the moral self-righteous unbeliever, you must know you've been put on notice that God does judge, and he's delayed for a reason. And what God wants to do is to take away all of our excuses to admit who we really are so that he would give us Jesus Christ to fill our souls, to guide us in the way, to comfort us, to care for us, to teach us, to give us Jesus Christ. Would you pray with me? Lord, You say difficult things to us.

You expose our hypocrisy. You expose our self-flattery, how we think highly of ourselves and lowly of others and how wrong that is. But Lord, You're creating a community of humility in your church and I'm so thankful for it. I'm so thankful even for this church. I praise you for the humility that we see in different ways and Lord I pray that you just reveal to us any pride that we have against one another, against you.

That we might have the treasures of Jesus Christ instead of our excuses, amen. Thank you.